Entertainment law for years was defined by negotiations over production deals, actors’ contracts, rights options and the occasional high-profile litigation.
Now, as studios have become international conglomerates whose interests extend well beyond filmed entertainment, the practice is increasingly demanding a more international set of deal-making skills.
Schuyler “Sky” Moore, who represented Chinese broadcaster Hunan TV in its $1.5 billion production deal with Santa Monica’s Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. that closed last week, said that investment signals a new wave of more hefty deals to come.
He will travel to China next month for a formal press announcement about the deal, the largest by a Chinese investor in a Hollywood studio, and he plans to entice other companies to follow Hunan’s lead.
“Foreign investments in U.S. films have been going on for years, but the difference now is that it includes China,” said Moore, a partner in the Century City office of Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. “I think this deal is really going to open it up. When I’m in China, I’m going to make the rounds to a lot of other media companies.”
Hunan is set to invest about 25 percent of the $1.5 billion in Lions Gate films planned for the next three years, though the Santa Monica company’s franchise film series “Hunger Games,” “Divergent” and “Twilight” are not included in the deal.
Moore also represented China Film Group Corp. in its negotiations last year to finance “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon II.” That deal stands out, he said, because the film will be available on Netflix on the same day it premieres in theaters. Other films in the future, he predicts, will likely debut simultaneously on the big screen and at home.
He is not alone in sealing major entertainment deals with overseas investors. Moore has worked alongside entertainment attorney Matthew Thompson for nearly 25 years. Thompson, also a partner at Stroock & Stroock, focuses primarily on television.
Last month, Thompson advised Toronto’s Entertainment One when it bought a majority stake in Santa Monica’s Mark Gordon Co.
Indeed, this year is off to a strong start for the entertainment duo, and Thompson said their business is showing no signs of slowing down.
“If you look at the trend worldwide, 2014 was one of the strongest years,” he said. “In the near term, that trend will continue. There’s tons of money looking for deployment and one of the marquee alternative assets out there is media.”
Big Money
Palo Alto law firm Cooley is still relatively new to Los Angeles, but Chief Executive Joe Conroy said the two-year-old office in Santa Monica plays a big role in the firm’s financial growth.
Revenue firmwide topped $802 million last year, a 19 percent increase from 2013, the company announced recently. What’s more, profits per partner also jumped 11 percent, now up to $1.74 million. Cooley specializes in technology startups, litigation and venture capital throughout 12 offices in the United States, London and China.
“For us, the key is to have a Cooley presence wherever there’s a hot, growing tech market,” Conroy said. “L.A. is one of the busiest offices because of the emerging companies, plus the tech and new-media fields.”
The Santa Monica office launched in 2012 with 11 attorneys, but has already doubled in size to house 24 lawyers. Last month, the firm also opened its first office in London, which will likely contribute to even more cash flow. Conroy said he placed 55 lawyers in the new outpost.
Still, the L.A. market will be a major focus for the firm throughout this year.
“More growth is inevitable for us because we have offices like L.A. where there’s more work to be done,” he said. “There’s absolutely a plan to continue to grow the office by adding more capability in the growing companies and the merger-and-acquisition space.”
Legal Landscape
Washington law firm Venable hired litigator Laura Reathaford as a partner in the national labor and employment practice group in the firm’s Century City office. … Attorney David S. Phelps joined the Century City office of law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld as a partner in the real estate practice. … Finance attorneys Brian Daigle, Ronald Goldberg and Warren Biro joined the downtown L.A. office of Holland & Knight. … Litigator Christine M. Reilly joined West L.A. law firm Manatt Phelps & Phillips as a partner and co-chair of the firm’s Telephone Consumer Protection Act compliance and class-action defense practice. … Philadelphia law firm Ballard Spahr hired complex business litigator Scott M. Pearson as a partner in the firm’s Century City office. … Legal marketing and public relations agency Jaffe hired Debbie Douglas as senior vice president of public relations. … Morgan Lewis & Bockius named Rick R. Rothman co-managing partner of the firm’s downtown L.A. office. Rothman had previously served as managing partner at Bingham McCutchen before the firm merged with Morgan Lewis late last year.
Staff reporter Cale Ottens can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 221.
